Reviews

I turn your face around!  It is my face.
That frozen rage is what I must explore—
O secret, self-enclosed, and ravaged place!
This is the gift I thank Medusa for.
“The Muse as Medusa”
May Sarton

     Today the disintegration of our cultural canon is evident, and it is the general symptoms of this disintegration which
characterize our time and its expression in art.  The disappearance of the certainty and security once conferred by the cultural
canon shows itself primarily in a sense of isolation, of forlornness, of homelessness and alienation, which has vastly
increased in the last hundred years.  Probably never before in the history of literature or painting have there been so many
isolated individuals.

     Clear evidence of this isolation and feeling of hopelessness can be found in current mainstream high art developments in
New York, and in other parts of the greater United States.  We may refer to the works of David Salle, Clemente, and Julian
Schnabel as being examples of Neo-Expressionism.  However, what their art represents far transcends any parameters of
stylistic expressionism, or an alternative to the floundering pulse of Pluralism.  Beyond any art definition, this art embodies an
archetypal energy which points clearly to the further disintegration of the cultural canon.

     The paintings of Carolyn Guerra require close scrutiny for full appreciation.  Her art represents an alternative to the dark
energy present in much of today’s art.  If anything, Guerra’s art seems to possess an optimistic thrust; it reveals a psyche
grappling with universal truths which go beyond the specificity of any age.  Thus in our age, as never before, truth implies the
courage to face chaos.  Mircea Eliade defines myth as “. . . a sacred history; it relates an event that took place in primordial
Time, the fabled time of the ‘beginning.’”  Guerra has turned to the myth as a point of departure for her expression.

     Her work is full of paradox.  When asked about her paintings, Guerra admits having spent much time reflecting on binary
opposition, for she deals with these realities in her imagery.  She accepts the co-existence of order and chaos, and good and
evil.  She realizes that movement and growth are dependent on the ever presence of these forces in ourselves and in a greater
universal spectrum.  To allow only one to exist could cause total stagnation and nothingness.

     What is curious in her paintings is the symbolism ever present.  The space in which her mythic imagery is enacted is an
expanse of sensuous colors, which allures the viewer.  However, this beautiful, ethereal space resembles deep, dark waters,
filled with endless detail.  Alchemists gave the name of ‘water’ to quicksilver in its first stage of transmutation, and by analogy,
also the fluid body of Man.  The fluid body is interpreted by modern psychology as a symbol of the unconscious, that is, of the
non-formal, dynamic, motivating female side of the personality.  Another meaning is identified with intuitive wisdom.

     A curious creature which is repeatedly seen in numerous pictures is the frog; it has undergone several stages of evolution
and appears to be a vital force in her art.  It, in terms of universal symbolism, represents the transition from the Element of
earth to that of water, and vice versa.  This connection with natural fecundity is an attribute derived from its amphibious
character and for the same reason it is also a lunar animal.

     Throughout history and myth, the hero’s journey through darkness into light has been a transformative passage from
confusion to clarity.  Clarity or vision depends not on one’s wishes but on the unconditioned and unborn nature of existence,
the ground of the feminine.  Meditation as the disciplined practice of this vision is not the manufacturing of what we desire, but
the acknowledgement of what we are.  Guerra’s meditation embraces her femininity as an artist, utilizes its uniqueness, in the
hopes of penetrating deeper into the sea of life’s confusion.

Elaine A. King
Assistant Professor
Art History
Carnegie-Mellon University
© April 12, 1982